Author: Jeremy Moorhouse

  • Building wind power through partnership – a tour of Canada’s largest First Nation wind energy partnership

    Building wind power through partnership – a tour of Canada’s largest First Nation wind energy partnership

    It is Sunday night at 9 p.m., and I am quizzing myself on at-risk turtle species, learning that a snake on a dirt road can look almost indistinguishable from a stick, and confirming that I will follow the site’s 20 km/h speed limit.

    I have visited almost 50 clean energy sites, and this is the only one where an ecology test was mandatory before I could enter, a sign that Henvey Inlet Wind is a different kind of project.

    The 300 MW, 87-turbine project is Canada’s largest First Nation wind energy partnership. It provides Pattern Energy (Pattern) with access to a strong wind resource and a single, principal landowner, while Henvey Inlet First Nation (the Nation) receives ownership, income and significant influence over development. It wasn’t it without challenges, however; developing and financing a project of this scale on reserve land required the Nation to create a new land-management, leasing and regulatory framework under its Land Code.

    • Henvey Inlet broke new ground in Canada. It showed what is possible when Indigenous ownership, environmental leadership, and clean energy development come together.
      Patrick Beatty
      Canadian External Affairs Lead – Pattern Energy
    Henvey Inlet

    A 50-50 partnership

    Henvey Inlet Wind is owned equally by Pattern and Nigig Power Corporation (wholly owned by Henvey Inlet First Nation). Nigig secured a 20-year power purchase agreement in 2011 and after considering several developers, the Nation selected Pattern Energy in 2014; the project began operating in 2019.

    For Pattern, the site offered a quality wind resource and unique advantage of a principal landowner. Rather than negotiating turbine leases with dozens of individual landowners, it could work principally with one Nation. For Henvey Inlet, Pattern brought development expertise and capital. Pattern also provided a $97 million in construction financing to Nigig.

    Building a $635 million legacy for future generations

    Henvey Inlet First Nation has also created a Windfarm Legacy Trust designed to provide benefits today while building wealth for future generations. Wind-farm income and surplus rent, which amounted to near $25 million in 2024/25, flow to the Nation. That year the Nation contributed $16 million to the Trust. The original framework established monthly member payments of $500 for adults, $600 for seniors and $100 for minors, while also building an investment portfolio for future generations.

    The long-term goal is an investment portfolio of at least $635 million by 2039, when the original electricity contract expires. This would be equivalent to roughly $460,000 per member by 2039, the Nation estimates a population of near 1,400 people by that year. For perspective, Alberta’s Heritage Fund currently holds $31.9 billion, or roughly $6,300 per Albertan. The objective is for investment income to help sustain member payments, infrastructure and community services after the initial wind farm payments decline or end.

    The Details

    300 MW

    Capacity

    2019

    Year commissioned

    $1 billion

    Total investment

    50%

    Henvey Inlet First Nation Equity Stake

    128

    Bat roosts

    100,000

    Equivalent Ontario Homes Powered

    Developing the project required a lot of firsts

    The partnership simplified some aspects of development, but it did not make the project easy. Henvey Inlet First Nation developed its own Environmental Stewardship Regime, covering environmental assessment, permitting and enforcement. Pattern describes Henvey Inlet Wind as the first project developed under such a regime.

    Moreover, because the project is located on reserve lands, federal Species at Risk Act protections also apply directly, requiring the project to comply with both the Nation’s Environmental Stewardship Regime and federal species-at-risk requirements, an industry first in Canada. The Henvey Inlet lands contain suitable habitat for 13 species at risk, adding another layer of complexity to operations and development. The mandatory ecology training I completed before entering the site and its low-speed limits are examples of the measures used to mitigate those impacts. The project also uses smart curtailment, for example, adjusting turbine operations according to wind speed, date and time of night to reduce risks to bats.

    Permitting the transmission line to connect the project also proved a challenge. While the turbines are all on Henvey Inlet land, the 104-km transmission line affected 75 privately owned properties, 46 municipally owned properties and properties involving six agencies and utilities. The line also crossed reserve lands belonging to the Magnetewan and Shawanaga First Nations requiring additional land and environmental approvals and agreements that provide ongoing land rents to the Nations.

    A model becoming more common

    Henvey Inlet is an early example of a broader shift in renewable power development across Canada. In 2025, more than 70% of new grid-connected renewable energy and storage projects were built with some level of Indigenous ownership or involvement, according to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. Renewable procurement programs are also increasingly valuing indigenous partnerships. In Ontario’s 2026 renewable procurement for instance, all 14 selected projects included at least 50% Indigenous equity ownership; British Columbia’s 2024 and 2025 power calls required at least 25% First Nations equity.

    The model could extend beyond electricity. Natural Resources Canada identifies 132 planned or proposed mining-related projects worth $122.6 billion through 2035, while noting that most critical-mineral deposits and enabling infrastructure are located on Indigenous territories.

    Henvey Inlet offers a lesson for that wider clean energy build-out, when interests and values align, partnership can create lasting benefits for Indigenous communities while also making projects stronger for developers.

    Note: My August 10 tour and interview were conducted with Pattern Energy. I have fact-checked the article against public records, including Henvey Inlet First Nation documents and published comments from Chief Wayne McQuabbie, but I was unable to interview Henvey Inlet First Nation directly for this story.

  • From green bins to renewable gas at Generate Upcycle

    From green bins to renewable gas at Generate Upcycle

    The brown, chunky organic slurry pouring out of the delivery truck and into the holding tank gives off a strong, farm-like odour. Admittedly, I should probably find the scene unpleasant, but instead I am fascinated by it and by what it represents.

    The slurry is one input into a complex system shaped by decades of policy development. At the London facility, food waste is diverted from landfill and converted into renewable natural gas (RNG), which can displace fossil natural gas in heating, industry and transportation.

    The business behind it is Generate Upcycle, and I am standing inside North America’s largest operating food-waste-to-RNG facility in London, Ontario. Its path to this scale was not straightforward. The facility has operated under several owners, adapted to changing markets and policies, and required substantial new investment to become the expanding RNG business it is today.

    • The Clean Fuel Regulations play an important role in our business model
      Generate Upcycle

    More than $175 million invested over the past five years

    Business has been growing for Generate Upcycle, which has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years to expand waste processing and RNG production.

    The London facility began producing renewable electricity in 2012 under Ontario’s feed-in tariff program. More recent investments have shifted the business toward higher-value RNG, including new gas-upgrading equipment and the Drumbo Resource Recovery Centre, which removes packaging and contaminants before sending the resulting organic slurry to London.

    Government policy has been part of the enabling force throughout: first renewable-electricity support, then stronger organic-waste diversion, and now growing demand for low-carbon fuels through utility purchasing and Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations. Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations require gasoline and diesel suppliers to progressively reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of their fuels, creating a market for compliance credits that renewable natural gas producers can generate and sell based on the emissions reductions their fuel delivers.

    Enough renewable natural gas for more than 9,000 homes

    The facility can process up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste each year, much of which might otherwise have gone to landfill, where decomposing organic material can generate methane, a powerful greenhouse gas emission. Instead, the material is converted into RNG, electricity and digestate registered as an organic fertilizer for farms in Southwestern Ontario.

    At full capacity, the company says the facility can produce up to 832,000 gigajoules of RNG annually, roughly enough to heat 9,400 homes. Generate Upcycle estimates that the facility avoids approximately 100,000 to 140,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions annually. It supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more elsewhere in Ontario.

    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.
    Generate Upcycle Renewable Natural Gas
    Generate Upcycle’s London, Ontario facility processes up to 225,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and can produce up to 832,000 GJ of renewable natural gas—enough to heat about 9,400 homes. The company has invested more than $175 million in Ontario over the past five years, and the facility supports 22 full-time jobs in London and about 20 more across the province.

    Feedstock supply and odour have shaped the facility’s development

    Reaching today’s scale required the facility to overcome financial and operational difficulties, manage community concerns and adapt to a constrained industrial site.

    The original facility, owned at the time by Harvest Power, struggled financially because of inconsistent feedstock supply, low production and higher-than-expected labour costs. Generate Upcycle has since invested in preprocessing organic waste to remove contaminants and create a more consistent feedstock mix for the digesters. It has also benefited from Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks requirements to institute curbside collection of source-separated organics in curbside waste.

    In reaction to odour complaints facing several industrial enterprises and landfills in southern Ontario around 2016-2017, including the London biogas facility, faced mounting odour complaints. StormFisher Environmental, the owner of the facility at that time, developed an odour-management plan that Ontario later incorporated, along with complaint-response and monitoring requirements, into the facility’s 2020 environmental permit approval. Generate Capital acquired StormFisher’s organics business in 2022 and brought the site into Generate Upcycle, which has continued to invest in odour controls and monitoring devices.

    The Details

    175 million

    Investment last five years

    2012

    Year commissioned

    225 000

    Waste capacity tonnes per year

    832 000

    Renewable natural gas capacity (GJ)

    42

    Employees

    London, Ontario

    Location

    A $70 million expansion is underway

    Generate Upcycle is now completing a further $70 million expansion of the London facility, expected by Q1 of 2027. The project will expand feedstock capacity, digester capacity and increase biogas and RNG production, building on the operational changes made over the past several years.

    Food waste, and other biological wastes such as manure and wastewater, will continue to be produced every day and must be managed somehow. Nearly 300 facilities already produce biogas and RNG across Canada, but the Canadian Biogas Association estimates that only a fraction of the country’s potential has been developed. With new projects under construction and in development, the association expects Canadian RNG production to roughly quadruple by 2028. Because RNG is a drop-in substitute for fossil natural gas, it can be transported through existing pipelines and used in existing equipment. The lesson from London is that, with the right regulatory framework, collection systems, infrastructure and markets, food waste can become a source of energy and fertilizer.

  • Travers Solar – more than Canada’s largest solar project

    Travers Solar – more than Canada’s largest solar project

    A solar project that kept the family farm alive

    I had driven more around 300 kilometres from Canmore to see Canada’s largest solar project in Travers, Alberta. I expected to talk about panels, power prices and the role of corporate electricity buyers in building new renewable energy. Instead, I found myself standing in a barn, surrounded by lambs, talking to a 5th generation farmer, Eric Steeves, about land values, drought and farm succession. Then he said something that changed the way I was looking at the project. “The solar project saved our family farm.” Travers Solar is a major power project, but here it is also a financial stabilizer.

    The same land that is hard to farm can be valuable for power

    Travers Solar sits on roughly 3,300 acres in Vulcan County, south of Lomond, where heat, wind and drought are part of the farming reality. Those same conditions make the area well suited to solar generation. The 465-megawatt project was originally developed by Greengate Power, acquired by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, and supported by a 15-year power purchase agreement under which Amazon agreed to buy 400 megawatts of output. The project was developed here to benefit from one of the top solar resources in North America and to satisfy Amazon’s renewable energy targets.

    • “The solar project saved our family farm”
      Eric Steeves
      President – Yetwood Farms

    Solar changed the farming operation, but it did not end farming on the land.

    For Steeves, the solar lease created stable annual income in a business where returns can be uncertain and land values can make succession difficult. He described farmland worth far more on sale than it can justify through farm production alone. But the project also changed what agriculture could happen there. More than 3,000 sheep now graze beneath the panels, providing vegetation control and another income stream. Steeves said shade from the panels helps hold moisture and increased grazing productivity, allowing two to two-and-a-half times more sheep than expected.

    Agrivoltaics works best when farmers help design it from the start.

    The sheep operation also revealed practical constraints. Sheep herding is a specialized skill, and Steeves said there was a learning curve requiring new staff familiar with sheep, which can be difficult to find in Alberta. Other agricultural uses, such as hay production, could be possible in future, but only if projects are designed differently: with wider spacing, underground infrastructure and layouts that account for farm equipment. Combining farming and solar development does not happen on its own. Farmers and project developers have to work together at the design stage. There are also trade-offs. Larger spacing between panels, for instance, requires more land for the solar project.

    The Details

    Lomond, Alberta

    Location

    2022

    Year commissioned

    700 million

    Investment

    700-900

    Lease value per acre

    3,300

    Number of acres

    3,000

    Sheep supported

    The next challenge is turning one farm’s success into wider local benefit

    For Steeves, Travers has worked well enough that he now wants to extend the benefits beyond his own family farm. The solar lease helped stabilize the operation, the sheep created a new agricultural income stream, and the project showed that renewable energy could become part of a working farm.

    Scaling that model will be harder. The region already has significant renewable energy development, and adding more generation will require new local demand, storage and careful grid integration. Steeves sees an opportunity in a data centre powered by solar, wind, storage and irrigation, with farming continuing around the energy projects. He estimates this could create 88 to 100 local jobs across the data centre, renewable operations and associated agricultural activity.

    To get there, he will need to convince the local community, investors, and Alberta’s electricity institutions that the project can bring durable regional benefits while maintaining the integrity of the grid. It is a large undertaking, but it starts from a simple premise: Travers worked well enough for one family farm that Steeves now wants other farmers to share in the opportunity.

  • What moving up the value chain looks like at Kalesnikoff

    What moving up the value chain looks like at Kalesnikoff

    From sawmill to clean manufacturer

    As I walk into Kalesnikoff’s Mass Timber Facility in Castlegar, my eyes move across an expansive, wood-framed, naturally lit space. To my right is a CNC machine, a computer-controlled tool the size of a cargo container that cuts wood components with precision. To my left, workers prepare large structural columns made from dozens of smaller pieces of wood.

    Across the room, full building modules move through a production line, from exposed frames to nearly finished units complete with stoves and refrigerators. Kalesnikoff is producing custom structural wood products, modular components and finished building systems. It has also created nearly 100 jobs, bringing income, technical skills and economic activity to the region. This is what moving up the value chain can look like in Canada.

    The shift to mass timber was risky, but staying in commodity lumber was risky too

    Kalesnikoff started its sawmill in 1940 near Castlegar and remains a family business, now led by CEO Chris Kalesnikoff. The company prospered as a specialist lumber supplier to domestic markets and export customers in the United States, Japan and Europe. But the mill has faced increasing competitive pressure from larger producers, volatile lumber markets, tariffs and declining timber availability.

    Mass timber offered a way to build on what Kalesnikoff already knew while moving into a higher-value market. But the shift required new equipment, new expertise, new customers and confidence that the market for larger wood buildings would expand.

    Before making the leap, Kalesnikoff studied European plant designs, visited facilities and assessed technologies. The company ultimately invested $65 million across two major expansions: $35 million for its mass timber facility in South Slocan and $30 million for its K3 modular construction facility in Castlegar. Government support helped reduce the risk of the Castlegar expansion, including $3 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program and $6.7 million from British Columbia’s Manufacturing Jobs Fund, part of B.C.’s Mass Timber Strategy.

    Policy did not create the product, but it is helping expand the market

    Canada’s building-code environment is becoming more supportive of mass timber. The 2020 National Building Code introduced a pathway for mass timber buildings up to 12 stories (with conditions), while British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario now allows certain mass timber buildings up to 18 storeys. Today, most provinces have mass timber provisions in their building codes. Kalesnikoff also sells into the U.S. market, including completed buildings in Oregon, Washington and Utah.

    The market remains small, around 1% of North America’s buildings material market, but it is growing. Canada’s mass timber producers added near $380 million to Canada’s GDP in 2023 which is estimated to expand to $1 to 1.2 billion by 2030 according to an RBC study.

    The Details

    Castelgar

    Location

    2024

    Commission modular construction facility

    100,000

    Castelgar facility size (sq. ft)

    65 million

    Total investment (mass timber and modular construction)

    ~500

    Current workforce

    82

    Projects complete

    Builders are looking for speed, design quality and lower embodied carbon

    Building codes have opened the door, but builders are choosing mass timber for practical reasons as well. In some applications, it can shorten construction timelines and shift work from the construction sites to the factory floor. Where permitted, exposed wood beams also create warm interior spaces that appeal to many of Kalesnikoff’s clients.

    Mass timber can also reduce embodied carbon, the emissions associated with producing, transporting and assembling building materials. That can help builders meet low-carbon design goals and reporting requirements in cities such as Vancouver. Actual reductions vary by design, timber source, manufacturing process, transport distance and accounting method.

    Riding a growing market requires timber, workers and innovation

    With mass timber now included in building codes across much of the country, one barrier to adoption has been reduced. But the path is not simple. Kalesnikoff is increasingly working with second-growth timber, which can require different approaches to product design, testing and certification. It also continues to compete for declining timber production in British Columbia. Growth has changed the company itself. Expanding into mass timber has required new manufacturing skills, design and technical expertise, along with the administrative capacity needed by any growing business. Many builders are also learning to work with mass timber, and insurers to understand their fire, moisture and long-term ware risks

    Mass timber remains a small fraction of total construction, and it will not replace conventional materials in every building. But in the right applications, it offers a useful mix of advantages: simpler assembly, factory-controlled production, compatibility with low-carbon building design and a finished product that many prize.

  • Consolidated Biofuels sets the bar for biodiesel in Canada

    Consolidated Biofuels sets the bar for biodiesel in Canada

    A boutique producer in a big-fuel world

    In a facility in Surrey, B.C., Consolidated Biofuels is taking waste oils and greases collected from the Pacific Northwest and turning them into biodiesel. The technology is not new. Biodiesel moved into the mainstream years ago and is now produced at scale by major agribusinesses such as ADM, while multinationals such as Neste, Chevron and TotalEnergies produce competing renewable fuels. Against that backdrop, the surprise is not what Consolidated Biofuels makes. It is that a small B.C. producer continues to succeed.

    • “With our fuel you can get zero emissions today”
      Dan Treleaven
      CEO

    Innovation as survival strategy

    As Dan Treleaven and Graeme Pitches explained during my visit, Consolidated Biofuels’ competitive edge comes from constant innovation, diversification and a commitment to quality. The company is part of a broader group of businesses spanning biofuels, coatings, polymers and other specialty chemicals. Its roots trace back to Consolidated Coatings, founded by Treleaven in 1981, before expanding into biodiesel through Consolidated Biofuels in 2008 and later into polymers through Meadow Polymers in 2013. According to the company, that broader product base has helped it manage the ups and downs of the biodiesel market, where waste oil prices, credit values and fuel demand can shift quickly. It has also created opportunities for integration, including the use of glycerin, a key biodiesel by-product, in the group’s polymer business. That helps reduce costs, make better use of materials and lower the carbon intensity of the final fuel.

    Cleaner fuel, lower cost

    That matters because cleaner fuel now has a market value. Consolidated’s biodiesel is among the cleanest in Canada[1]. It is also currently significantly cheaper than diesel, despite costing more to produce. The difference comes from policy. British Columbia’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard, first implemented in 2010, and Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations, which began its first compliance period in July 2023, both reward fuels with lower lifecycle greenhouse gas intensities. The policy design creates a direct innovation signal: the cleaner the fuel, the more valuable it becomes. Because Consolidated sells into British Columbia, it can combine provincial and federal clean fuel credits, improving the economics of lower-carbon fuels and reducing the volume fuel suppliers need to meet compliance obligations.

    [1] Based on its BC LCFS carbon intensity scores.

    The Details

    Surrey

    Location

    2008

    Year commissioned

    Biodiesel

    Fuel

    11 mlpy

    Nameplate capacity

    90%

    Carbon intensity reduction compared to diesel

    25

    Employees

    Mining and shipping could be the next opportunity

    Consolidated is always on the look out for customers wanting to cut the carbon intensity of their fuel. Shipping is one. The sector remains overwhelmingly dependent on oil-based fuels, with biofuels supplying less than 0.5% of global international shipping energy demand in 2024. Today, marine biodiesel demand is still driven mostly by voluntary action, with some support from European regulation. But a proposed International Maritime Organization clean fuel standard for ships could create a more durable compliance market if adopted. Mining is another potential market: diesel-intensive operations in B.C. and Alberta face clean fuel obligations, and biodiesel can reduce on-site emissions without major equipment changes.

    Accessing these markets will not be easy. Consolidated will need to continue to compete for waste feedstocks, such as used oils and greases, which are traded internationally and increasingly in demand. For a boutique producer in a market shaped by global players, the path forward is the same as the one that kept it alive: innovate, diversify and make a fuel clean enough to compete.

  • From wastewater to warmth – Vancouver’s False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility

    From wastewater to warmth – Vancouver’s False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility

    Helping prove sewage heat recovery in North America

    Since the False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility (NEU) opened in 2010, sewage heat recovery has moved from a handful of global examples to a growing North American project pipeline, with seven systems now operating or under development Metro Vancouver and in cities including Toronto, Markham, and Denver. The NEU helped make these projects easier to understand, finance and replicate by showing that wastewater heat recovery could work at district scale. This was by design. As Derek Pope, Associate Director, explained to me, the facility plays another role as “a learning hub to enable others to make their own investments in low-emissions energy”.

    • “A learning hub to help enable others make their own investments in low-emissions energy and sewer waste water recovery”
      Derek Pope
      Associate Director

    From Olympic showcase to urban heating model

    Vancouver’s False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility was first built to provide low-emission heat to the Olympic Village, part of the city’s effort to host the world’s most sustainable Olympic Games. The project received an innovation grant and loan to help fund the initial capital costs. It now provides low-emissions heat for near 50 buildings, while offering other cities a working example of both the opportunity and the practical challenges.

    Making clean heat easier for buildings

    By centralizing heating equipment at the False Creek Energy Centre, the facility also simplifies buildings. New buildings do not need their own large on-site heating systems; each one connects to the NEU through a pair of compact heat exchangers. For a 10- to 15-storey building, each heat exchanger can be about the size of a large suitcase. Less equipment on site can also mean lower maintenance needs, simpler operations and an easier path for building retrofits.

    To generate that heat, the centralized facility uses heat pumps to draw heat from wastewater at roughly 20°C and upgrades it to produce hot water around 70°C. That hot water is then pumped to buildings for space heating and domestic hot water. Natural gas boilers at the centralized plant provide peaking and backup when needed, helping ensure reliable service through the year. 

    The Details

    Vancouver

    Location

    2024

    Capacity expansion

    9.6 MW

    Heat recovery capacity

    47

    Buildings connected

    70%

    Renewable heat share

    10,000

    Residents served

    The next challenge is finding more heat

    Planned development within the NEU service area could see the floor area served by the NEU nearly triple at full buildout.  To meet the growing energy demand as well as support a transition to 100% renewable energy, additional energy sources will need to be added over time. The 2024 expansion of the sewage heat recovery system, which added 6.6 MW of capacity, is a great start but work is already underway to map out the utilities next investments in low carbon energy.  Studies have begun to better understand the local waste heat resources which include data centres, industrial waste heat, and other sewer lines. Heat storage, electric boilers and bioenergy are also being assessed to expand supply.

    The False Creek NEU shows what municipally owned low-carbon utility infrastructure can achieve when paired with innovation and operational excellence.  The NEU remains a useful model because it is still evolving. The next phase is not just about adding capacity, but about showing how cities can identify, connect and manage more sources of low-emissions heat.